Homeward Bound

Ok dedicated readers, it's been a year since we camped at Palisades where our story left off...thank you to those hassling me to finish this blog ;)

Departing from Palisades State park, we continued east, making a quick stop at Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota. It was a rainy day and the mosquitoes were brutal so we did not see much of the actual quarries, but we enjoyed the visitors center and learned about the history, culture, and geology of the area.

"Oral tradition tells us that the site was used by people of all tribes, and that all tribes - even enemies - laid down their arms before quarrying side by side. Archaeological evidence shows many different tribes quarried here. By 1700, the Dakota Sioux were the dominant presence at the pipestone quarries." Learn more about Pipestone

From here, we called it our Homecoming Tour. We were able to visit some dear friends before coasting back into Indiana. Hardly any pictures from these visits as they were much too short, and we had more important things at hand than documentation, I did manage a few random shots.

We got to camp outside of Minneapolis and spend some time with cousin Joshua, Adrienne, and family, and our friend Alan. It was really great to catch up with these Hoosier transplants, and speak face to face with old friends after being away from home for so long. Alan joined us camping one night, we were treated to some fun city walkabouts, late night campfire conversation, and worship at J+A's church.

Next we camped out in Iowa, in Chris and Amanda's driveway. They were so nice to let us to squeeze in there for a while, and even share a visit from Chris's lovely mother. We enjoyed bike rides, apple picking, campus and greenhouse tours, homebrew, local brew, and the type of general shenanigans you'd come to expect from these fine humans.

On our way through Wisconsin we could not pass up another visit to Dr. Evermore's Forevertron. We got to catch up with Lady Eleanor again, and further explore the grounds.

"A mythic obsession"

Survey markers make great bug eyes

The bird orchestra is my favorite. I believe most of these were made in the 50's. Some are kinetic, and you can hear them creaking, clanging, and squeaking in the breeze...can't help but expect them to burst into a symphony at any moment.

Power On!

Next we stayed with the Booth family, we felt quite at home in their gorgeous and historic neighborhood (go WPA!). We were treated to delicious meals (and drinks), watched some cute kiddo soccer games, meandered through the local botanical garden, learned to knit (thanks Eileen!) and enjoyed the beautiful fall weather.

Next stop - INDIANA

-Cori

Mount St. Helens

We drove up to Johnston Ridge Observatory to get a look at Mt. St. Helens. Admittedly, I wasn't expecting more than to marvel from a distance at the giant crater left from the eruption. But by the end of the day, I left completely fascinated with this remarkable place.

National Volcanic Monument - it's a thing. And the sign is ash-colored, not brown! You can see Hodor parked in the back.

The parking lot was full of people tail-gating the volcano with bbq and kite flying. We followed suit with beer and sandwiches. Bowie holds down the fort. 

 Here's a view from the observatory. The clouds were hanging over the top most of the day, so we weren't able to get a full look at it. Although, I suppose there's not much to see above the cloud-line anyways? That part of the mountain is gone. You can see right into the crater though.

We are about 5 miles away! I looks huge, of course, but even being there, it's still hard to perceive just how gigantic it is. The crater itself is a mile wide.

The Volcano and The Ed

Here's a closer shot of the landscape below. You can see the Toutle River re-establishing it's route through the pyroclastic material which was deposited by the volcanic lahars.

 Equipment for monitoring volcanic activity, set among the ruins of the forest.

The entire area was forested before the eruption. Young trees are growing back among the old white tree stumps, and there are wildflowers everywhere.

“The Eruption of Life” is the park motto, and it is a great contrast to the “moral of the story” that we've found throughout our national park tour. That bluntly being “Everything Dies.”

57 people were killed. The death toll would have been much higher though, were it not for David Johnston (he was a scientist who died in the eruption, the observatory is named for him) and the USGS convincing authorities to close the area to the public, despite heavy local pressure to re-open it. (It's usually a good idea to listen to those scientists..) There are moving stories and accounts of the eruption in the Johnston Ridge Observatory interpretation center. I think the USFS struck a perfect balance in their presentation between the life and death that this volcano has brought. 

But life finds a way. These prairie lupine flowers were the first signs of life to return to the barren area.

The eruption of Mt. St. Helens took everyone by surprise, in that the damage was so much further-reaching than expected. It was a lateral explosion, meaning that all of it's fury was consolidated in one general direction. This was the first time in recorded history that such a phenomenon was witnessed by anyone who lived to tell. 

Because of this, we've learned a lot about volcanic activity that was previously a mystery, along with the explosion of life that grew back from the ashes. It's a brand new landscape, and we get to see exactly how the geology is forming and the wildlife is progressing. (hint: a lot faster than anyone predicted!) The park newspaper encourages you to come back throughout your life to witness and compare the changes you see.

Fancy new facilities! Love that USFS seal.

                 

Research area! The entire place is a giant science lab. We hiked around the hummocks and got to see this brand new landscape close up. 

I love the park interpretive centers, but after that, you've got to get out IN it to find yourself a deeper understanding than a textbook can give you. Open the pic below in a new tab to read about similar hummocky landscapes around the world..and how we now know much more about them thanks to Mt. St. Helens.


We were standing on the red part - it was once part of the mountain!

New life grows among the rubble.

New ponds a little lakes have filled up among the hummocks. This is my favorite picture, you can see right into the crater.

We've been seeing these beautiful foxglove wildflowers all over the PNC, finally got a nice shot of one

There's so much more of this park I wish we could have seen, namely the Ape Caves. They're not technically caves, but lava tubes over two miles long! You can hike through them, but we were on the wrong side of the park for that.

On our way back down the mountains, we made a stop at the buried A-frame roadside attraction - the picture doesn't show very well how deep it was actually buried. The new, higher ground from the volcanic lahar flow has since washed out from in the front of the house, but that line you see on the door is the new ground level around the rest of the house.

There's also this fellow, along with a friendly kitschy-tacky gift shop, which is not even close to the kitschy-tacky you find at the roadside attractions back east! It's kind of hilarious to realize how gaudy things are, east of the Mississippi.

Check out this crazy time-lapse of the lava dome growth from 2004-2008. (In the previous blog post, video didn't want to embed here for whatever reason) The lava squeezes out like play-dough!

Plans? Ha.

Last spring, our plan was to pack up the house and get it listed by the end of the summer, but we were so anxious to hit the road, that it just didn't happen. Going against all logical advice, our laziness has worked out beautifully for us.

We were originally going to weather the holiday season in various family driveways, but after arriving back home, all of our big life plans got an unexpected adjustment (funny how that happens). We've decided to move back into our house-house for winter hibernation. We have winterized our ship, and parked it at my parent's place until we take off again in January. Maybe February? Whenever we're sick of the cold. The plan is to have the house listed by then...we'll see.

It's pretty wild living in a house again. What extravagance! Though I do miss the efficiency of RV living. It is so much easier to keep a tidy house when there's only about 300 square feet of it. We've come to generate less waste, less laundry, and use less of just about everything.

Even though we are now stationary, we're still hitting the road to see some family and friends.

We traveled with my parents up to Minnesota for little Simeon's baptism. We are godparents! What an honor! It was great to spend so much time with family, and take a road trip with my parents. Definitely a trip. We checked out some antique shops, local food and brews, roadside oddities, and of course, we stocked up on beer and cheese curds before returning home.

Mom and Dad took us to see Dr. Evermore's Forevertron. It is incredible. We are already planning our next visit.

Life has been a flurry of catching up and settling in and thinking over and re-adapting. Ed and I have much to reflect upon as 2013 comes to an end.

It's been a life-changing experience, living as nomads for the last 3 months. We saw so many incredible sights, and met so many kind people. It's been strait up magical being able to explore the woods and caves and mountains and waterfalls. We've come to consider ourselves hobby naturalists and astronomy enthusiasts. It will be nice to settle in for awhile and spend the holidays with friends and family. We have so much to be thankful for, and more blessings than we can count.

Merry Christmas!